


don't ever become a stranger

by umbrellawarriors



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Gen, Vax is dead, past Keyleth/Vax, pike/scanlan are getting married!, this is all about her moving on
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-20
Updated: 2017-12-20
Packaged: 2019-02-17 08:32:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,265
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13073124
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/umbrellawarriors/pseuds/umbrellawarriors
Summary: Keyleth is certainly not panicking, no sir, no way. She is certainly not hiding in an airport bathroom stall hyperventilating, and there is no way she is debating skipping out on her flight.Okay, well, she’s never been the best liar.She’s looking at her phone, only a few taps away from calling up Pike and telling her she’s so sorry, but she got appendicitis, and she can’t come to the wedding and she’s so so sorry, but she’ll come visit for Winter’s Crest this year, for sure this time, and-Keyleth sighs and drops her phone back into her beat up bag. She can’t let her own fears interrupt Pike and Scanlan’s big day. She was always going to have to go home, at least this way she isn’t screwing over her friends. And, hey, a Trickfoot-Shorthalt wedding is bound to have a metric shitload of free booze, right?Or, Keyleth hasn't been home since Vax died five years ago.





	don't ever become a stranger

**Author's Note:**

> sooo instead of working on my other fic, I started a new one. whoops. I wanted to do something involving keyleth moving on after vax, and i like modern au's, so. here we are. Title comes from New Years Day by Taylor Swift. Follow me on tumblr, i'm pike-trickfoots

Keyleth is certainly  _ not  _ panicking, no sir, no way. She is certainly  _ not  _ hiding in an airport bathroom stall hyperventilating, and there is  _ no way  _ she is debating skipping out on her flight. 

Okay, well, she’s never been the best liar. 

She’s looking at her phone, only a few taps away from calling up Pike and telling her she’s so sorry, but she got  _ appendicitis _ , and she can’t come to the wedding and she’s  _ so so sorry,  _ but she’ll come visit for Winter’s Crest this year, for sure this time, and-

Keyleth sighs and drops her phone back into her beat up bag. She can’t let her own fears interrupt Pike and Scanlan’s big day. She was always going to have to go home, at least this way she isn’t screwing over her friends. And, hey, a Trickfoot-Shorthalt wedding is bound to have a metric shitload of free booze, right?

She sits in the bathroom for a few more minutes, until she hears the announcement that her plane is boarding. Keyleth is lucky, and gets a window seat with no one next to her. Small blessings, at least. She can freak out in her own space. 

Keyleth quickly loses herself in thought as the plane begins the long flight from Zephrah to Kymal, where Percy will pick her up and drive her back to Westruun. She hasn’t been home in a little over five years now, hasn’t seen any of her friends in person in just as long. She’s shit at communicating like a normal human being, so actual, reliable communication was mediocre at best. Mainly, it’s been too-close snapchats with captions like, “when ur boss tells u ur orchid looks kinda wilted”. 

She hasn't been home since Vax died, five years ago. She loved him, still does, and the thought of being home without him makes Keyleth’s heart break. His death wasn’t surprising, he had been sick for so long and no one was pretending he had a good shot of living, but still. It hurt. 

Keyleth just wished he actually got to grow old, not just the time they did old-age make-up for Halloween when they were in high school. 

But Pike and Scanlan are finally getting married, and she was asked to be a bridesmaid, and goddamn if she is going to let ghosts stop her from watching two of her oldest friends get married. Vax wouldn’t want her to stay away. Honestly, he wouldn’t want her to isolate herself as much as she does, but, hey. He isn’t around anymore. 

She’s excited to see everyone again, if not a bit apprehensive. Percy and Vex have a kid, for fucks sake - a pre-schooler named Elaina, after Vex’s mother, and while Keyleth has seen pictures and even facetimed a few times, she’s nervous to meet this whole new person that didn’t exist the last time she was home. 

She’s also terrified to see Vex again. Keyleth is the first to admit her communication attempts are shitty, but she really let the ball drop with Vex. She looks so similar to Vax, and they both had such similar mannerisms, and sometimes Keyleth would see her out of the corner of her eye and she’d forget for a split-second that Vax was dead and then her heart would break all over again. 

And Keyleth knows, she  _ knows,  _ that however bad she had it, that it was ten times worse for Vex, having to be reminded of Vax anytime she looks in the mirror. And Keyleth knows she’s been a shitty friend, and she knows she’s been too absorbed in grief and work. 

But maybe the wedding can be the first step towards moving on. 

Maybe, just maybe, someday she can find her way back to the person she used to be. At least to a person who laughs easier. A person with a lighter heart.

 

* * *

 

 

As it turns out, it’s not Percy picking her up at the airport. 

“Scanlan had some sort of emergency with his tux - which I’m assuming means it’s one shade too lilac rather than plum or something,” Pike says as explanation, hugging Keyleth, “and apparently, Percy is the only one of his groomsmen capable of handling it.”

“Well, his only other grooms-people are Grog, Kaylie, Tary, and Kash -  none of who are particularly good at the whole ‘bride-zilla’ thing - or would it be ‘groom-zilla’? Anyways, at least Percy’s been married. He’s kinda capable.” Keyleth replies, squeezing Pike into a tight hug.

“They eloped, and you know it, He’s just being an old worrywart.”

They laugh, and make their way to Pike’s old blue pick-up truck, the same one she’s had since high school, and Keyleth laughs as she notices the “Sarenrae is my co-pilot!” bumper sticker.

“Oh, yeah. Papaw Wilhand put that on there when I decided I wanted to go into the clergy. It was a little embarrassing at first, but hey. It’s true.”

Keyleth wonders if the real reason Pike was sent to pick her up is because, as a pastor, she should be the easiest to talk to. Pike can counsel, can reassure. Keyleth, after all, did all but run away after the funeral and moved cross-country, with limited communication for the last five years. She doesn’t blame her friends if they’re a little apprehensive about how Keyleth’s dealt with things (not well, but she won’t ever let that show).

“So, how’s everyone been?” Keyleth asks as Pike puts the truck in reverse and backs out of the parking spot.

“Well, Scanlan and Grog taught little Elaina swear words, which pissed Vex off to no end, but Percy thinks it’s hilarious as all hell,” Pike says.

“And Scanlan wants to marry a pastor?” Teases Keyleth.

Pike sticks her tongue out at her as she merges onto the highway. “Now Vex is terrified that Elaina is gonna drop the F-bomb or something during the ceremony, which would honestly be the funniest thing to ever happen. I kind of hope it does, really.”

“Sometimes it just makes sense that you and Scanlan ended up together.” Keyleth says. 

Pike flips off a driver tailgating her, and then positions her hand so she is also flipping off Keyleth. 

“But like, little Elaina swearing is so cute. She says ‘ _ fuck _ ’ the way Grog says ‘ _ Puppy _ ’. She just lights up and gets so excited and it’s the most endearing thing in the world. That poor kid’s gonna get kicked out of kindergarten for her potty mouth.” Pike says fondly. 

They chat for a bit as Pike drives - apparently Grog’s gym is doing very well for a new business, Vex just got a promotion at her job at the Wildlife Reservation, and Scanlan has taken over as the choir director at Pike’s parish. 

Keyleth tells her about her fancy office in the Ashari building that’s on such a high floor that when she looks out the window it feels like she’s on a cliff. She tells her about how she’s taken up rock climbing, and how her neighbor got a new dog that looks like it was once an extremely fancy man. 

They don’t mention Vax. It’s too early for such a heavy topic. And anyway, Vax would want them to catch up, to laugh. Keyleth hates that Vax is too heavy a topic to breach. She doesn’t want him to disappear from their lives, but she’s also afraid her whole life will become mourning him.

Hell, it’s what she’s spent the last five years doing. She needs to move on. She has to learn to talk about Vax and not want to cry.

Right?


End file.
